Happy New Year, of sorts
Posted by William Dowd on January 8, 2008
I know I haven’t posted since Christmas Eve, but we’re only talking an arbitrary calendar here. There’s still plenty of time left in this month.
Thirty days has September, April, June and November. So, what’s so special about January that it needs one more when its neighbor, February, got short shrift?
Well, a lot of interesting things happened on that extra day the Gregorian calendar calls January 31. For one, my kid brother was born. Whether that has any lasting impact on the world remains to be seen. He’s a nice guy, but he hasn’t cured any diseases or designed any skyscrapers yet.
For those of us in any form of the journalism trade, it is the feast day of St. John Bosco, patron saint of Christian apprentices, editors, and publishers. Doesn’t matter if you’re not Catholic. Any day devoted to you or your patron saint can’t be all bad.
On this date in 1606, upstart Guy Fawkes was executed for plotting against Parliament and James I of England. In 1865, Robert E. Lee was named head of the Confederate military. In 1876, the federal government ordered all Indians to move to reservations. In 1930, 3M introduced Scotch Tape to the world. Sam Goldwyn of MGM fame died in 1974.
Need more? OK, try these:
• The first automobile to top 100 mph did it in grand style in 1905 on Daytona Beach, FL., with A.G. MacDonald at the wheel.
• Show business stars Eddie Cantor (1892), Tallulah Bankhead (1902), Carol Channing (1921) and Suzanne Pleshette (1937) and Minnie Driver (1970) were born.
• The U.S. launched Explorer I, its first satellite, from Cape Canaverel, FL, in 1958.
• In 1950, President Harry Truman announced he had ordered development of the hydrogen bomb.
• Nauru, a Pacific island you never heard of, moved from being jointly administered by Britain, Australia and New Zealand since World War I, became independent in 1968.
